Nightly perusing of the literature on sustainability and Indigenous Peoples

Author: Adoette Vaughan | Majors: International Studies, French | Semester: Spring 2023

My name is Adoette Vaughan, and I study International Studies and French within the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. During the Spring 2023 semester, I worked with International Studies professor Dr. Jared Phillips on a thesis exploring topics relating to Indigenous rights and sustainability. After completing this semester of study, I plan to pursue a masters degree in either Environmental Policy or French.

My interest in Guyana’s gold mining industry was borne out of the need to find a topic for a research essay for an International Studies course. I wanted to find a topic that related to my interests in sustainability and one through which I could highlight the injustices perpetrated by governments and powerful corporations against marginalized communities. Luckily for me, there was quite a lot of literature focused on the effects of the gold mining industry on the environment and Indigenous population, termed Amerindians, in Guyana. The severity of environmental degradation and social harms ran deep, resulting from the country’s history with colonialism and the current pressures of global markets, percolating into the fabric of the country. After completing the paper for my class, I decided I wanted to spend more time teasing out the tangled thread of factors contributing to such grave environmental and social injustice. The undertaking was apt for a long-term research project.

Finding a research mentor proved more difficult than finding a research topic. After my original research mentor moved to a different university the summer before I started research, I began working with Dr. Phillips who I had had as a professor twice before. While he was introduced to my project after its conception, he was able to guide me due to his detailed knowledge of Indigenous people, conservation, and sustainability issues. My mentor and I met about once a week to go over progress, suggest useful sources, propose tangential areas of interest, and offer reassurance that this project is, in fact, something you are capable of completing.

One question that arose as I dove into research was why there was so much written about this tiny nation on the northern coast of South America. Unsurprisingly, the international interest in Guyana’s mineral wealth has led international mining corporations to flock to the country. And as a result of mining’s impact on the country, there are many academics writing about the country’s history and injustices that come along with mining. Many authors focused on Amerindians and the problems they encountered due to the government’s pursuit of mineral extraction at all costs, environmental degradation on their land, and the institutional problems that left them largely powerless. I learned these problems: lack of land rights, governments being unreceptive to Indigenous rights, and environmental degradation were commonly experienced by Indigenous people around the world. I realized Guyana’s situation was symptomatic of the global irreverence of the environment and its value. The particularities of Guyana’s social and environmental shortcomings acted as a microcosm of the invariable slew of global social and environmental challenges.

I am a person who, when I have an assignment to get done, likes to do it right away and complete it in one go. Needless to say, this is not possible with a thesis. This led to frequent stressing about my lack of progress. Confronted with the enormity of the task, I struggled with ‘writer’s block’ and struggled to sort through the mountain of literature to get to the truly relevant information. If I had to offer advice to my past self, I would tell that overwhelmed student to pace herself. To resist the urge, if I may repeat a common adage, to treat the research and writing like a sprint but more like a marathon. Breaking down the project into manageable chunks definitely made a difference as I reached the final stretch of writing. Focusing on one section at a time had the added benefit of focusing my writing to relevant topics. My advice may seem a bit contradictory: make a plan for what information you’re after to help narrow down your research but be ok with the scope of your research changing as you learn more. You do not need to have every detail of your paper figured out before you start writing.

At this point, my next steps are not yet set in stone. My ultimate goal is to continue pursuing my interest in sustainability through a masters degree in environmental policy.